This document discusses applying Agile principles and practices to marketing. It outlines some of the dominant approaches to Agile marketing like real-time and lean marketing. The author believes marketing plans have short shelf lives and a lightweight approach is needed. Nine flaws in traditional marketing are identified, such as marketers not having enough knowledge and agencies using waterfall methods. Applying Agile practices like sprints, personas, and daily scrums can help address these issues. Both successes and weaknesses of the author's Agile marketing team are shared. Advice is provided on selling Agile marketing approaches to bosses.

1. your marketing plan sucks:
nine flaws in modern marketing
workflows and ways that agile can help

2. Agile marketing is a high-communication,
low documentation, rapid iteration
process designed to provide more
frequent, more relevant and highly
measurable marketing programs
- IDC, Agile Principles and Practices, 2010

3. Applying ideas of
Agile development
to marketing

4. The dominant design is emerging
for agile marketing
Small “a”:
Marketing faster
Big “A”:
Applying Agile to marketing
• Real-time
• Lean marketing
• Forrester’s custom flavor
• From development
• More responsive
• More effective

5. Isn’t Agile Marketing
just marketers
using agile?

6. Why I care about Agile?
A career in small, fast growing companies
•Need to be responsive and adaptive
•Never liked marketing plans
•Short shelf life for marketing plans

7. Results matter more
than anything
so I need a lightweight
approach…

8. Nine Flaws in the ways
marketers work today that make
Agile a challenge…

9. Flaw #1
Marketers think they know a lot…
when they really don’t …

10. Flaw #2
Old school overhead slows
things down

11. Flaw #3
Marketing is a hero based profession…

12. Flaw #4:
Your agencies are probably waterfall…
• Statements of work
• Creative briefs
• Risk reward balance

13. Flaw #5
Disconnect between planning and
doing in new social channels

14. Flaw #6:
Marketers are
storytellers

15. Flaw #7:
Planning is cultural
“We do it this way…”
“We need to build consensus…”
“The CMO wants to see a plan…”

16. Flaw #8:
Marketers like to talk…
Question: Are you looking too far
back or too far into the future?

17. Flaw #9:
We still have budgeting cycles
• Quarterly reporting
• Annual budgets
• Semi annual updates

18. How my team
does Agile in Marketing…

19. One Month SPRINTS
Image: Wikipedia

20. PERSONAS
for our core
customers

21. Three monthly THEMES

22. PRODUCT OWNER is also
SCRUM MASTER

23. SCRUM three times a
week – sometimes more…

24. BACKLOG captured in a shares
google spreadsheet

25. What have you done for me lately?
What did you just finish?
What are you doing next?
What is the problem?

26. Worst practices in Agile
• Things we could do better
– No use cases
– No post it notes
– Planning poker – accurate sizing
– Burndown charts
– Science fair

27. What is working for us
•
•
•
•
•
Clear objectives/priorities
Adaptive attitude/responsiveness
Low overhead
Team cohesion
Making it happen

28. “How do I sell
Agile Marketing
to my boss?”

29. Advice*
• If you are not in charge
– Start small – a single project
– Things that look like development
– Areas with rapid change
– Something with strongly measurable ROI
– Talk with a developer who knows agile

30. Shameless Plug
• Find us
– iTunes
– Agilemarketingblog.com
•
•
•
•
•
Listen
Tweet
Question
Insult
Spread the word

31. Connect with me…
Frank Days
@tangyslice
fmdays@tangyslice.com
www.agilemarketingblog.com
Agile Marketing Group on Facebook

32. What
questions
do
you
have?